Gerber Output Problem

[paulvdh]

I do not agree with this:

@Frederik

It does not accept the Silk as a Gerber file. It a way this is correct, the file is empty and a Gerber file must end in a M02*. (The extension .gbr make it clear that it is intended as a Gerber file, a message ‘Missing M02*’ would have been better, but hey, it is what it is.)

So I created an empty project in KiCad-nightly V5.99, created gerbers and loaded an “empty” gerber layer in a text editor.
The files of the empty layers are between 522 and 527 bytes in size:

paul@medion:~/projects/kicad/LED_PT4115_599/empty/gerber$ ls -hl
total 48K
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  526 Dec  1 21:56 empty-B_Cu.gbr
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  527 Dec  1 21:56 empty-B_Mask.gbr
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  522 Dec  1 21:56 empty-B_Paste.gbr
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  523 Dec  1 21:56 empty-B_Silkscreen.gbr
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  752 Dec  1 21:56 empty-Edge_Cuts.gbr
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  526 Dec  1 21:56 empty-F_Cu.gbr
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  527 Dec  1 21:56 empty-F_Mask.gbr
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  522 Dec  1 21:56 empty-F_Paste.gbr
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul  523 Dec  1 21:56 empty-F_Silkscreen.gbr
-rw-rw-r-- 1 paul paul 2,5K Dec  1 21:56 empty-job.gbrjob

And when opening such a file it does end with a "M02* line:

%TF.GenerationSoftware,KiCad,Pcbnew,5.99.0-unknown-a3e8e0184~106~ubuntu20.04.1*%
%TF.CreationDate,2020-12-01T21:56:27+01:00*%
%TF.ProjectId,empty,656d7074-792e-46b6-9963-61645f706362,rev?*%
%TF.SameCoordinates,Original*%
%TF.FileFunction,Legend,Top*%
%TF.FilePolarity,Positive*%
%FSLAX46Y46*%
G04 Gerber Fmt 4.6, Leading zero omitted, Abs format (unit mm)*
G04 Created by KiCad (PCBNEW 5.99.0-unknown-a3e8e0184~106~ubuntu20.04.1) date 2020-12-01 21:56:27*
%MOMM*%
%LPD*%
G01*
G04 APERTURE LIST*
G04 APERTURE END LIST*
M02*

Which means my detailism is satisfied and I see no need to make an issue out of it on gitlab.

[ Edit: ]
@Frederik: Why do you think “Silk” is empty?
The file Peetem uploaded in #23 is 120kB and looks like a normal silk screen layer.
https://forum.kicad.info/uploads/short-url/oKda0ABZWVi39Dynn8UYi1EMktP.gbr

(I think I’m spending too much time on too small details here. Noting important seems to be going on.)

[Frederik]

You are quite right, I re-downloaded the Silk and it is not empty. When I downloaded it the first time, the result was empty. Why that is I don’t know, I can only speculate.

Both the Silk I have now and the empty silk you created look perfect, as usual with KiCad Gerbers.

[Peetem]

So I still have a weird set of problems, but was able to plot the gerber files that were accepted by two PCB manufacturers.

I can view the files using Cuprum but not Gerbview.

Still not sure what to do, but at least I can get some boards made.

Thanks for everyone’s help!

[hermit]

I just noticed you are using OSX? Have you upgraded? I don’t see that information here. It seems there have been several folks with problems lately.

[Peetem]

I haven’t upgraded, I’ll give it a shot. Good catch!

[hermit]

Actually I asked because of the threads of issues with Big Sur. I’d hold off. Have you seen those threads?

[Peetem]

I haven’t, but will look.

I also upgraded my OS and still no change - Cuprum reads the Gerber files just fine, but Gerbview doesn’t.

Very strange…

[kliment]

I notice you have not ticked “Use extended X2 format” when you generate GERBER.
Gerber-X2 is really good and I would advocate this being the default.
Gerber-X1 files should still be valid but lets entertain the concept that there is a bug.

X2 format files are still not accepted by a number of manufacturers (yeah, I know). I still use X1 with protel extensions for maximum compatibility for this reason. Has nothing to do with this issue though.